Limitations of Water Mist as a Total Flooding Agent

The limitations of water mist in acting as a total flooding agent are discussed in this paper. The paper focuses on water mist consisting of droplets 1-100 µm in diameter. Water mists are very efficient as an extinguishing media if they are present in the flame. There are, however, several problems associated with introducing the water mist into the flame: the spray reaches only a short distance; small water droplets have a very short lifetime; droplets coagulate into larger droplets; large droplets hit obstacles such as walls and therefore have difficulties in being dispersed throughout the protected volume.